This is a 2 for the price of 1 History Post!
PETRA BURKA & ELLEN BURKA
So the other week some fabulous _skaters met the wonderful Brian Orser and another fierce Canadian named Petra Burka. Who is she?
PART I: Petra Burka
The vital stats:
Born: November 17, 1946, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Moved to Canada: 1951
Canada's Outstanding Athlete of the Year (Lou March Trophy): 1964
Canada's Outstanding Female Athlete of the Year (Bobbie Rosenfeld Award): 1964, 1965
Skating History:
Here is a video I found (but couldn't embed - sorry!) from Canada's Historica Dominion Institute:
CLICK HERE TO WATCH!! : http://www.histori.ca/minutes/minute.do?id=14248
Petra has said she wasn’t really serious about her skating until she saw Carol Heiss (OGM) perform on TV at the 1960 Winter Olympics (Squaw Valley). After that, she said “that’s what I want to be” and decided to buckle down. In 1961, at 15, Burka was the Junior Ladies Champion of Canada. Three years later she won Bronze at the IX Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, and captured her first World Medal (Bronze). She was coached by her mum!
Innsbruck Podium, 1964
From L --> R: Silver: Regine Heitzer, Austria; Gold: Sjoukje Dijkstra, The Netherlands; Bronze: Petra Burka, Canada. Aw, she's so smiley and cute here!!
February 28, 1964
The day before they skated at the Olympics, the the ladies draw to find out the order in which they will skate! Good times~.
1965 WAS PETRA'S YEAR! :D
She won GOLD at the Canadian Championships, GOLD at the (now defunct) North American Championships (a biennial competition between skaters from the US and Canada, held from 1923-1971) and GOLD at Worlds. At the time she was the first Canadian woman to win Worlds in 18 years. 1965 was also the year she was credited as the first woman to land a triple jump, a triple salchow. You go, Petra. (P.S. I could not get clarity on where this happened from my srs bsns Internets research -- I read this happened at the Canadian Jr. Championships, Worlds, and the Canadian Championships. So...I guess point being -- SHE WAS THE FIRST!! TIME AND PLACE DO NOT MATTER!?)
A telegram from Lester B. Pearson, the then Prime Minister of Canada, when she won Gold at Worlds, and her winners sash…a ~lady champion~!
Other pics from 1965:
October 28, 1965
Petra during a rehearsal for an ice show October 29, 1965.
She kinda looks like Barbara Streisand here! LOL
Petra retired from competition after 1966 Worlds and toured with Holiday on Ice for a number of years. Here is a particularly lulzy video from their 1967 tour (Petra was a ~featured skater~) which was themed “Aladdin / Space Show” (WUT?). Petra is rocking black pants (so ahead of her time!!) with lots of sparkles. She can be seen at the very beginning, shakin’ it at around 0:30 and again at 1:40.
Click to viewWhat can I say - the moon was a hot topic in the 60s!!
After touring, she worked to promote figure skating with the Canadian Figure Skating Association and Sport Canada. She also coached as well as commentated on figure skating for CBC and CBS. Since 1999 she has worked as a skating consultant for Team Canada.
A recent photo -- at a gala event at the Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club before the Vancouver Games with another _skating fan (they're everywhere these days! LOL)!
DON'T YOU LOVE HER??? U SHOULD -- BECAUSE SHE LOVES US!!!
SHE'S CURRENTLY RAISING MONEY FOR A GREAT CAUSE -- THE PRIDE AND REMBERENCE RUN. CLICK BELOW TO HELP THIS FABULOUS WOMAN OUT!!:
http://tinyurl.com/2emqlq5
PART II: We can’t talk about Petra without talking about her mother - Ellen Burka. Sometimes, amazing ladies come from even more amazing ladies.
The History of Ellen!
Born: August 11, 1921 in Amsterdam. Ellen and grew up a dancer and a figure skater.
WWII/Concentration Camps: During WWII, Ellen and her family were deported to the concentration camps of Westerbork (a transit camp in the northeastern part of the Netherlands where Dutch Jews were held before they were deported to other concentration or extermination camps …also where Anne Frank and her family were held for a time) and then were moved to Theresienstadt (a concentration camp located in what is now the Czech Republic). In Theresienstadt, Ellen met her husband, Czech Jan Burka. They survived the camp and eventually walked back to Holland and started their life over (couldn’t find details of how they left the camp…possibly were freed when the war ended in 1945 and the camp was taken over by the Red Cross). Back in Holland, Ellen became a champion skater and eventually began coaching.
Dutch Women's Singles Champion: 1946, 1947
Move: The family moved from The Netherlands to the Toronto area in 1951.
Coaching: Went on to coach many other skaters including her own daughter, Petra, but also a few other guys you may have heard of - Toller Cranston, Elvis Stojko and Patrick Chan!
Order of Canada: 1978 “for elevating skating to an art form and for imaginative choreography on ice”
Canadian Figure Skating Hall of Fame: 1992
Canada's Sports Hall of Fame: 1996
Awesome fact about Ellen: She let Toller Cranston live in her basement for several years, accepting his artwork as payment for her coaching!
Together, Burka and Cranston changed the face of men's figure skating by introducing a new, more expressive style of skating. This emotional new approach to choreography, termed "Theatre on Ice," required that the movements of the skater be closely tied to, and even emulative of, the music. While it was frowned upon at first, this more communicative and artistic style of skating has now become the norm. I don't know about you, but I can't imagine skating any other way!!
Ellen wrote a FS instructional book in 1974:
In February 2009, a documentary detailing Ellen's amazing life was released.
A moving documentary about the artistry and struggle of Canadian figure skating coach and choreographer Ellen Burka. She recounts her life from pre-war Amsterdam, to Westerbork and Theresienstadt concentration camps, to Dutch national champion, to bohemian Toronto in the 1950's and finally world skating celebrity. The film shows how her enthusiasm and energy allowed her wildly creative side to survive and flourish despite the harsh realities around her.
Skate to Survive was produced by Ellen's other daughter, Astra.
WHAT A FAMILY!
ELLEN, BB!PETRA (on the R) AND SIS ASTRA TYFYT!!